The Australian Greens are calling for urgent climate action based on advice by Professor Terry Hughes, co-author of new research in Science on poor management of World Heritage areas, including the Great Barrier Reef.

"The Abbott and Palaszczuk governments need to take heed of this serious warning from one of the world's leading coral reef scientists," Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson, said.

"Based on the science, the choice is simple - coal or the Reef?

The federal Nationals today again deserted the Senate chamber to avoid voting on a Greens' motion putting forward the Victorian Nationals' recent policy position that landholders should have the right to say no to CSG on their land.

"The Greens, at every level, in every state and territory, have a long track record of fighting for landholders to have the right to say no to CSG to protect their land, water and climate," Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said.

The Australian Greens will introduce a bill to the federal Parliament today that exercises constitutional powers to give landholders nationally the right to say no to coal and gas mining on their land.

“It’s a disgrace that landholders still do not have any legal rights to protect their land, water and the climate from coal and gas when the big mining companies come knocking,”  Queensland Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said.

The Nationals, along with the Liberals and Labor, have today failed to support the Australian Greens’ Senate motion calling for the Liverpool Plains to be off limits to CSG and coal, including the Shenhua Watermark mine.

“The Nationals Senators all fled the chamber for the vote, while the Liberal and Labor Senators voted against our call for the protection of the Liverpool Plains,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said

New research shows $784 million is needed to improve Great Barrier Reef water quality, even before new the coal mines and ports, supported by the major parties, are built.

“Even though the Reef is already struggling, the Newman Government is set to make its water quality even worse,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson, said.

“The Newman Government is paying to dump the dredge spoil from the Abbot Point port expansion in the Caley Valley wetlands.

A new report out today by The Australia Institute shows that the Newman Government has already spent almost $2 billion of Queensland taxpayers’ money on the existing Abbot Point coal port.

“The Newman Government has already taken almost $2 billion that could have gone to public transport, schools and hospitals and used it to prop up the coal industry,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson, said.

Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne reinforced the connection between Campbell Newman and Tony Abbott in the eyes of the electorate, while in Brisbane today.   

“Tony Abbott and Campbell Newman have the same arrogant agenda that is anti-environment and makes life harder for everyday people,” Senator Milne said.

“Together they have inflicted more than 50 attacks on Queensland’s environment, including approving the world’s largest coal port in the Great Barrier Reef.

On new research published by Nature showing stating 95% of Australia’s coal reserves are unburnable by 2050 if the world is to have a 50% chance of avoiding global warming in excess of 2 degrees Celsius. 

Senator Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson, said:

“The Abbott Government needs to do more than just add the word science to Ian Macfarlane’s portfolio, they need to take climate science seriously.

The Abbott Government’s taskforce of diplomats, revealed today, set up to lobby other countries over the threat of an ‘In Danger’ listing for the Great Barrier Reef, is not what the Reef needs.

“The Abbott Government hasn’t done its Reef homework and now is wasting the rest of the time it has left to get it done by making up excuses for the teacher,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson, said.

To save the Great Barrier Reef from an ‘In Danger’ listing, the Abbott Government needs to follow the World Heritage Committee’s recommendations, instead of telling other countries to back off, as reported today.

“The best way to avoid a World Heritage ‘In Danger’ listing, which would be a disaster for our tourism industry, is to do what the World Heritage Committee is asking, instead of trying to lobby and bully other countries,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson, said.